


Claustrophobic

by insideimasadrainbow



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Claustrophobia, Kind of Slashy, M/M, bromance cake fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 11:44:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4563345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insideimasadrainbow/pseuds/insideimasadrainbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke and Calum get stuck in an elevator, and old haunting memories arise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claustrophobic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gonefornow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gonefornow/gifts).



> Have some claustrophobic Cake because why not. 
> 
> On a serious note, claustrophobia is seriously not a joking manner. I'm severely claustrophobic, but people who know me don't take it seriously. Just like idiots who don't take any other phobia seriously. I hate elevators, I can't get on them. Enclosed spaces, even a public bathroom freaks me out. I can't go out to attractions where people are wall to wall in. It sucks but it is what is it ya know? So don't be a dick to anyone who suffers from it, or any other phobia. 
> 
> Moving on, I hope you like this. I've been meaning to do it for awhile since it's like, a weird tradition for me to write claustrophobia stories with my OTP's in different fandoms. ^.^
> 
> Also, this is for gonefornow because they're just an amazing Cake writer and gives love to my little onesie shots on here. They're also the reason why I started writing my own Cake fics. So dear, I hope you like. :)

Calum froze. _No. This can't be happening._

One minute they were moving and then the next they were jerked to a stop. Luke stumbled beside him with a sharp gasp. The lights flickered before dimming low. Calum swallowed thickly, his chest tightening with every fast heart beat. The elevator stopped.

"Are you kidding me?" Luke demanded aloud and scanned around the no longer moving small box. "You've gotta be joking."

Calum felt the panic he had zero control over rise inside of him rapidly. His heart was racing at this point, the knowledge that they were stuck registering in his brain. Already his breath was shortening to short ragged breaths and his eyes were blown wide with fear. The lights flickered again, and for a split second, blew out before coming back to its low dim. That was all it took for Calum to snap.

Luke had been in the middle of pushing the emergency call button on the panel when Calum emitted blood curdling scream. "Calum?!" Luke immediately whirled around to his best friend and band member, and found him on the ground in a heap. Luke was next to him in a second. "Calum, what's wrong?!"

Calum was gone though. When the lights went for just those short seconds, he was brought back to that time.

_"MAMA!"_

_"Hurry up daddy!"_

_"M-mama!"_

_"Hold on Calum, hold on just a little more."_  

_"MOMMY!"_

Calum's body jerked as he snapped up, arms raising to shield his tear streaked face. "Mama!" he cried out brokenly. He pulled his long legs up to his chest and twisted into himself. Luke's eyes were wide with shock and panic as he stared at the older boy.

"Calum, please!" he reached out and grabbed both of Calum's hunched up shoulders gently. Calum let out a sob and uncurled himself, and surged forward. Luke nearly fell backwards from Calum throwing himself against him, and quickly regained his balance while wrapping his arms around Calum. The older boy was shaking violently in his arms and crying, broken sobs escaping from his slightly parted mouth.

_He pushed against the lid with all his might but it wouldn't open! Why wouldn't it open?! Tears streamed down his face leaving a wet mess behind. The small boy gritted his teeth as he shoved at the lid, punched at the lid, but to no avail. Calum couldn't see anything, not even his hands raised above him. It was pitch black and he was terrified._

Luke was on the ground against the wall, long legs spread apart to make room for the boy sprawled between them. The blonde hugged Calum tight to him while Calum clutched at his shirt desperately. "Shh Cal, please stop crying.." Luke's voice was low and wavering with slight panic. He had never seen this side of Calum before and it was freaking him out. He blinked back nervous tears and buried his face into Calum's neck, squeezing him even closer.

The dark haired teen let out a whimper as the one memory he locked away forever crashed out and took over his mind.

_Six year old Calum giggled as he stepped inside the box and lowered himself down in it. He was small for his age despite the box being little itself, and fit snug inside of it. The boy grinned up at his sister Mali and best friend Michael. "Ready!" Michael grinned and Mali snickered. "You've been a bad boy Pup." the 11 year old girl tsked and laughed with Michael as they both pulled the lid to the box down and sealed Calum inside. The dynamic trio had been taking turns pretending to punish each other with the old box they found while playing in the Hood's attic. There had been old junk in which they tossed out quickly before playing their game. They've rotated in turns for the past twenty minutes in which one of them will stay in the box for a short amount of time before getting let out. However, when Calum's time was up, and his sister and Michael went to open the box, it was locked._

Luke frowned with concern when Calum let out a shiver.

_"Guys?" Calum's small voice reached out to the two stunned kids staring in horror at the box. "Let me out please!" "Um." Michael offered. Mali tried to open it again but the box was stuck. The girl swallowed and began to back away. "Stay here, I'm gonna get my dad." she told Michael before rushing off with a racing heart. Calum pushed on the lid, his small body beginning to shake. "It's not letting me out!" he shrieked. Michael flinched at the terror rising in his friend's voice and put his hands on the box. "You're dad is coming Cal, just wait okay?" But Calum was panicking. The tears were building and his heart was hammering. It was so dark! It was suffocating and he wanted out now! The boy began to scream and cry, and Michael tried to calm him down but to no avail. It wasn't until ten minutes later did David Hood get the box open that Calum calmed down._

Luke lifted away from Calum's neck and tried to peer down at the unmoving teen. "Cal?"

_Calm wasn't the right word for what Calum was when they finally got him out. He'd been screaming for his mother who was at work, and not listening to his father's soothing words as he worked at the box. When Calum was no longer trapped, David scooped him out and hugged him close. Mali was crying. Michael was freaked out but relieved. And Calum was unresponsive. Mali was the first to notice the weird glaze that took over her little brother's eyes. "Daddy, Calum looks funny!" she said, alarm in her voice. And when David looked for himself, he paled, realizing that Calum had lost a lot of his color not only in his skin, but his eyes which were dim. When the man called his son's name and didn't receive a reply, he knew that Calum was unconscious. The boy had shut down, completely blacked out, and thus his claustrophobia fear formed._

Calum slowly came to as his body shook on its own. It took him a moment to realize someone was shaking him, and that someone was calling his name. Realization gradually hit Calum when he recognized that someone to be Luke, and Luke sounded urgent. With a groan, Calum pushed himself up but froze when his hands sank into something warm and soft. A body. Luke's body and his graphic shirt. "Cal??"

Calum blinked down and saw long legs clad in black jeans curled on either side of him. He looked up and met with Luke's concerned blue eyes. Luke's face was so close that Calum could pick out the differences of all the blues that made up his unique eye color. A warm hand touched the small of Calum's lower back, branching out a shot of warmth throughout his body. "Luke?"

"Dude. Cal. You fucking scared me!" Calum found himself crushed against Luke, and let out a groan at the blonde's oblivious strength. "One minute you're fine, and the next you're screaming." Luke pressed on the older boy's shoulders and forced him back a few inches. Calum squirmed from the intense stare his blonde singer was giving him and mumbled 'What'.

Luke gently squeezed Calum's shoulders. "Mind telling me why? You lost it completely. It freaked me out." Luke's voice cracked slightly and his blue eyes were suddenly very bright. Calum felt guilt rise inside of him. None of the boys knew about his phobia except Michael who Calum's pretty sure forgot. He himself tries to pretend it doesn't exist, therefore no one needs to be concerned about it. After the incident, Calum was made fun of for being claustrophobic. None of the other kids thought it was a serious thing, so Calum started to treat it like it wasn't serious. He forced himself to enter enclosed spaces like the tunnels to a playground or hiding in dark closets during games of hide-and-seek. And when he got older, Calum did his best to ignore his surrounding when in a tight area. Or when he and the band got famous, and had seas of fans swarmed around them. He always felt stuck but pushed through it, even though during the late hours of the night, he'd be curled up somewhere crying for thinking of having such a messed up phobia.

Calum avoided Luke's stare and felt utterly stupid when his eyes prickled. From the dried up sensation on his face, it seemed that he'd already shed some tears. There's another side affect to Calum's claustrophobia and that revolves him blacking out. His body and mind can't handle the feeling of being trapped and shuts down. Till this day Calum doesn't remember his dad getting him out of that old stupid box.

"Ca-" Luke started but the overhead lights flickered, and something whirred mechanically, cutting him off. Luke scanned the inside of the unmoving elevator while Calum froze once more.

"So we are stuck." Calum whispered and bunched up the front of Luke's shirt. Luke looked down at Calum.

"Yeah. Have been for the past 15 minutes. I'm gonna see if that emergency button works." Luke moves to get up but Calum latches onto him desperately.

"Please don't move." the older boy says quietly, his face turned down and hidden from Luke's eyes.

"But Calum-" Luke stopped short when Calum tipped up to look at him with pleading doe eyes. And then everything kind of clicked. "Are you claustrophobic?"

Calum groaned and pushed his face into Luke's neck. "I can't help it okay? Just stay here and don't move damn it."

Arms wrapped around Calum again who felt himself calming down just a little. "Of course you can't help it idiot. But we have to get out of here, and that button is there for this reason."

Calum felt somewhat lighter knowing that Luke now knew his secret, and allowed himself to fall completely lax against the blonde. "The walls are closing in when you aren't here." And perhaps a bit delirious with his words. Luke blushed and sighed at the same time.

"It's a bit ironic to me that the claustrophobic guy doesn't want to get out of the enclosed space." the blonde pointed out, in which Calum huffed.

"I'm trying to not think about it and you'd be helping if you wouldn't keep going on about it!"

"Oh for fuck's sake."

In the next moment Calum found himself being lifted up off the ground and dangling inches from it. He let out an alarmed squeak and instinctively wrapped his legs around Luke's hips and arms around Luke's neck. Luke was not misguided as he took three long strides towards the panel and pushed on the emergency button. Calum was pushed up against the slight corner in the wall and held up by one of Luke's arms. The older boy was shocked to say the least, and he stared with his mouth open at the blonde whose attention was on the speaker against the panel.

"Come on stupid thing." Luke muttered. The lights flickered again and that motivated Calum to move. He mumbled incoherently as he pushed forward against Luke, securing his arms around the tall boy's neck. He was still freaked out shitless by the situation of being stuck in the elevator, but he at least was with Luke who was proving to make his claustrophobia forgettable just by being there with him.

**... one hour later ...**

When the elevator was back to working, and the doors finally opened to reveal panicking Michael and Ashton, Luke and Calum were in the same position with Calum raised against the wall and Luke between his legs. The blonde's face was hidden in Calum's neck, and Calum's face was buried into Luke's broad shoulder. His arms were laced tight around Luke's neck while Luke had his hands on the metal railing on either side of Calum. Ashton absolutely had to snap a quick pic before helping Michael and Luke get Calum, who managed to doze off, off the elevator.


End file.
